President Chibo, Tokyo

During my recent business trip to Tokyo, one of our co-workers lead us to several lunches as a group, so we could experience real Japanese cuisine, rather than just the fancy Michelin stared meals that I lined up.  The first lunch was mediocre ramen, at BeeHive.  Next, he took us to President Chibo, a restaurant specializing in okonomiyaki.  Chibo is part of a larger chain throughout Japan, although nothing about it really struck me as "chain-like".  I'm not all that into okonomiyaki, but I was more excited for this than the ramen, since I hadn't ever had it before in Japan.

Since we were a large group, we were seated in a semi-private area in the back of the restaurant, with our own chef, who cooked all of our dishes simultaneously.  Part of the fun with okonomiyaki is either getting to cook it yourself (the servers just bring you raw ingredients and you are seated at a tepan), or at least watching the chef prepare it in front of you.   It was actually really impressive watching him prepare so many different dishes at once.  Watching the cooking was fascinating, but unfortunately, 3 of us wound up with food poisoning after this adventure, and I didn't think the food was great anyway, so I obviously wouldn't recommend it, and would not return.

Starting the seafood and okonomiyaki.

Our group had a number of orders: two people ordered the lunch special of pork and squid okonomiyaki, two of us ordered the seafood version, one ordered another type of  okonomiyaki, two ordered one that included noodles, and one actually ordered a hamburger.

The chef started with cooking the seafood and the okonomiyaki bases, separately.  Each order of okonomiyaki came with its own big bowl of batter, and the chef never mixed from one to another.  We were all pretty mesmerized, guessing which one belonged to each person.

Adding seafood to the okonomiyaki.

After the seafood cooked on its own for a while, it was added to the okonomiyaki batter, which had also been cooking on its own.  Then, more batter was poured on top, again, each from the proper bowl.

Flipped over okonomiyaki.

Once the it cooked this way a little, the entire things were flipped.

Again, we had fun watching, but there wasn't any interaction with the chef, probably due to the language barrier.  I wish it could have been a bit more interactive, but it was still fun to watch.

Noodle based versions.

The regular okonomiyaki were left cooking on the side of the grill, as the chef started in on the noodle based versions, stir-frying up the noodles as if they were a stir fry, before they turned into massive pancakes too.

I got to try a few bites of one of these, and I liked it more than my regular okonomiyaki, as the noodles added a more interesting texture.  Next time, I'd probably get a noodle one ...

The finishing process begins.

Once fully cooked, the okonomiyaki were sliced into wedges, and slathered with sweet sauce.

More finishing ...

And then drizzled with mayo, and sprinkled with seaweed ...

Done!

And finally, topped with a ton of bonito flakes.

Inside a slice.

I eagerly dug in.

I was a bit confused when I tasted it, as it tasted a lot like bacon.  I ordered the seafood version, which should have included squid, scallops, and shrimp.  Not bacon.  Hmm.  But I figured it must just be the flavoring somehow.

So I continued.  I found a few bites of seafood, squid.  It was pretty flavorless and rubbery, and not very good.  Besides that, I couldn't find any seafood.  This was very surprising, since I had seen him cook it, and into each seafood one went a rather insane amount of seafood.  Huge prawns and several scallops should have been in there too.  I kept trying more bites, thinking the distribution was just wrong.  Still only the rubbery squid, and seriously, it tasted like bacon.

I asked if anyone had received the wrong one, specifically asking the people who ordered the lunch special of squid and pork belly.  They said they had the right ones.  I know that two seafood were made, and two lunch specials, so it wasn't like they made the wrong ones.  I was confused.

I looked over at Emil, sitting next to me, who also ordered the seafood version.  His very clearly had scallops.  And shrimp.  What?  Where was mine?

At this point I looked very closely at the one that another co-worker was eating, who claimed several times that he had the correct one, and saw shrimp and scallops in his.  Doh.  I had his lunch special, and he had mine.

I really didn't like it.  First, I like pork belly and bacon, so it wasn't just the filling choice.  The squid was not well prepared.  But the biggest issue is that it was all just really, really dry and overcooked.  I think we suffered from the fact that we ordered so many different things, and the okonomoiyaki were left cooking for  along time while the other dishes were finished.

Emil realized there was no way he was going to finish his entire dish, so offered me up several slices.  I dug into that one, the seafood one, and liked it more.  Most of the seafood was still overcooked for my liking, but the shrimp wasn't too rubbery, and the scallop was actually pretty good.  The squid in the seafood one contained more assorted pieces than in the lunch special version, but was still way overcooked.  The pancake wasn't quite as dried out, but it was still pretty dry.

So, still not a winner.  But, the best part of okonomiyaki is always the toppings.  They didn't disappoint: the sauce was sweet, the mayo creamy, the bonito very flavorful.  I ate more of the okonomiyaki than I really wanted, just to have more of the sauces.

Overall, I think okonomiyaki is just not a dish I like that much, but this was a particularly poor execution.  Very soon after eating, I got a major stomach ache.  At first I thought it was just from overeating, but it was pretty extreme, and soon after, two others (who both had the seafood version), were also complaining about not feeling well.  One of them turned so green that I really thought he was going to throw up on our elevator full of men in suits.

The price for the seafood version was ¥1,680, which was reasonable, giving how much seafood went into it.  I think two people could easily split one of these with no problem.

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Playero, Alcudia

I recently took a brief side trip to the island of Mallorca, off the coast of Barcelona, with a group of co-workers while we were en route to a business trip in Zurich (yes, this really did make sense!)

We rented a stunning villa, right on the beach.  We arrived late at night, so were not able to see anything about our surroundings.  The next morning, we needed breakfast, and decided to take a stroll down the beach, and wound up at Playero, which I'd read about before arriving.

Strolling down the beach.

You couldn't beat the easy walk, literally right out our front door, and along the beach.  At a relaxed vacation-mode pace, it was less than 10 minutes, all right on the beach.

Great Location.

The location was excellent, literally, right on the beach.  You could sit with your feet in the sand.  Some seats had umbrellas or were otherwise shaded for those who were sun-averse.

While it was a great location, the food was pretty mediocre, and pricey for what it was.  I had of course read all of this in advance, but I hoped the TripAdvisor folks were wrong.  Unfortunately, they nailed it.

Beachfront.  Slushy Drinks.  Can't go wrong.

Service wasn't super attentive.  I ordered a drink that never arrived.  But still.  Location, and slushy drinks on the beach.  We still opted to return (daily).

Strawberry Daiquiri.

I was a bit late to join my friends at Playero on our first visit, and was amused when I showed up to find them all drinking strawberry daiquiris, at 10am.  Thoughtful folks they were, they had of course already ordered one for me too.

The daiquiris were absolutely huge.  They were not stingy in the addition of alcohol, even though we were ordering them so early in the morning.

The first one I tried felt like a punch in the face from the alcohol, but I was quickly assured by the others that this feeling would go away.  Indeed it did.  I'm not sure if I just got used to it, or if it was better mixed once I got further into it, but I stopped caring about how strong it tasted after not too long.  Danger, danger.

The daiquiris were decent, freshly made to order, nicely slushy.  The best part for me however was the garnish.  Each came with a large strawberry on the rim.  And the strawberries were really, really good.  Sure, the first one I had didn't seem washed, as it had dirt all over it.  But, they were so sweet and juicy.  I can't remember the last time I had a strawberry so good.

Can't resist the slushy drinks!

Over the course of our stay in Alcudia, we returned to Playero most mornings.  The strawberries were always a highlight for me, and I appreciated the fact that some of my companions didn't care to just eat strawberries, and gladly gave me theirs.  Otherwise, I would have needed to order even more daiquiris, just for the fruit.

Piña Colada.

I read online that Playero made the best piña coladas on the island, so  I had my heart set on getting one.

Sadly, it wasn't a great piña colada.  I didn't really taste coconut, nor pineapple.  It was really just sweet.

Pa Amb Oli Sampler

Others ordered food on our different visits, but no one really liked what they got.  One ordered a croque madam, but it came without the egg.

Emil ordered the Pa Amb Oli sampler platter, I think expecting it to be an appetizer.  Pa amb oli is a traditional Mallorcan dish, literally, "bread with oil".  Instead of appetizer sized, or, even entree sized, it was a huge platter of 6 assorted pa amb oli, plus olives, peppers, and tomatoes.  I helped him out with this, and even so, we didn't come close to finishing it.  The server really should have warned us.

The bread that formed the base of the pa amb oli was fine, nicely crusty, although a bit soggy from the tomato spread, but in a way that worked.  But, neither Emil nor I are big bread eaters, so this was a bit lost.

There was one piece with meat topping, Iberan ham.  Emil liked this one the most.  We had so much assorted ham and salami on this trip that I was happy to skip it, but a few others at the table ended up ordering a pile of just the ham because they liked it so much.

Next was a trio of seafood options: anchovies, salmon, and tuna.

I also didn't try the one with anchovies.  I don't think Emil did either.

The smoked salmon was fairly standard, decent enough, but not special.

The tuna was ... interesting.  Basically large chunks of what seemed like canned tuna.  Not exactly high quality.

There were two cheese options: manchego or blue cheese, each topped with nuts.

I tried the manchego, it was fine, sliced thin, but never a cheese I really like.

My favorite was the blue cheese.  The cheese went well with the walnuts and the tomato base.

I'm glad I got to try a traditional offering of pa amb oli, since the version we had at the Michelin star restaurant later that day was anything like this, but I certainly wouldn't get it again.  The best part of the whole platter for me was the pickled peppers.

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Ramen at Beehive, Tokyo

On our first day in Tokyo, one of my work colleagues proposed going out to lunch as a group, to get ramen.  I'm not normally a soup fan, but when I visited Tokyo a few years ago, I did really enjoy the ramen.  When I was in Tokyo before, the aspect of the ramen experience that I liked the most was how quirky it was - we had to purchase a ticket from a vending machine first!  I assumed we were going somewhere like that.

Instead, we were lead to a totally non-traditional ramen shop.  Well, first, it wasn't a ramen shop.  It was a music hall, that serves ramen at lunch time.  For seating, there were a few counter seats, a few tables, and an area with couches.  Since we were a large group, the only place we'd fit was the couches.

The menu was entirely in Japanese, but our hosts explained that there were three choices: chicken, pork, or fish.  Since I dislike chicken and pork, this was an easy choice.  I'd clearly get the fish.  They warned me that it was very traditional, and double checked several times to make sure it was really what I wanted.  I was a bit unnerved, but, I really, really don't like chicken or pork, so I went with it.  Everyone else in the group, our hosts and all other visitors included, just got the pork one.

The only other option was the size, "normal" or large.  Almost everyone else got large, at the encouragement of our hosts.  They told us that normal was very small.  I still got normal.

Fish Ramen.  ¥730.

The ramen arrived at the table slowly, one or two at a time.  It became obvious very quickly that if we were to wait for the whole group to receive their ramen, that the first ones would be cold.  Our hosts, very polite gentlemen in general, started digging in as soon as their arrived, so we did the same.

I was very confused when mine arrived, as it was topped with several large pieces of pork.  I ordered the fish because I didn't want pork ...

Then it was explained that really the choice of chicken, pork, or fish was referring to the broth, not the toppings.  Hmm, ok.  I could easily push the fatty, nasty pork aside.  My broth was thin and very, very oily.  Everyone else had a really frothy, creamy looking broth.

I was also confused because my bowl was giant, and really didn't seem any smaller than anyone else's.  But they insisted this was the smaller size.  I still don't understand that part.

I was further confused by my noodles, wide noodles, not what I expected for ramen.  Everyone else had thinner, more traditional noodles.  Apparently I wasn't just picking the broth, but also the noodle style when I ordered the fish one?  I didn't like the noodles, they were a bit mushy, and didn't seem any better than any other noodles I've had.  Isn't fresh ramen supposed to be about the noodles?

The only other ingredients in my bowl were woody bamboo and an egg.  Everyone else has additional toppings like seaweed.  The egg however was quite good.  I love the eggs in Japan.  As you can see, jidori eggs have larger, more intensely yellow yolks, which always seem more custardy, more flavorful.

I really didn't like this meal, and I had a bit of jealousy over the version that everyone else got, but I know I didn't really want pork broth, and I doubt their noodles were any better, just different.

Not recommended.

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Naked Fish Sushi

I haven't actually been to Naked Fish.  Well, that isn't true, I have been to the restaurant, but I haven't dined there.  Instead, I did something a bit risky.  I got takeout sushi.  Certainly not something I normally do.  But, Ojan has been craving sushi, and isn't able to go out to restaurants, so, I decided to bring sushi to him.

I did hedge my bets however.  I had to make good decisions on what to order.  I knew nigiri wouldn't be a great idea.  Thus my order was quite different than what I'd get if I went to eat at a sushi restaurant, I added plenty of "safe" items, like miso soup, seaweed salad, and vegetarian items.  It was all ... highly mediocre.  Not awful or anything, but not very good, and I see no reason to return.

If you do want to get takeout sushi, I continue to say, get it from Roka Akor.  I really don't think you can do better.

Tofu Miso Soup.

Sushi meals must begin with either miso or edamame right?

The miso was basic, with a few bits of tofu, and a few bits of seaweed.  Salty, comforting, but nothing special.  Ojan enjoyed the soup, and commented that he really missed miso.

Chopsticks were provided in my togo bag, but no spoon.  Sipping from a cute little miso bowl in a sushi restaurant is one thing, drinking out of this was a bit strange though.

Normally $2, but included as part of the lunch combo I ordered.

Wakame Salad.  $5.00.

I wanted something to fall back on, in case the sushi wasn't very good, so I ordered a side of seaweed salad.

It was very standard, basic seaweed salad.  A mix of seaweeds, a little seasoning, sprinkling of sesame seeds on top.  It seemed under-dressed.  Of course it got stuck in my teeth.

It wasn't particularly good, nor bad, and the $5 price seemed high for the portion.  When I saw the price, I assumed it was going to be a really large portion, or at least have more interesting seaweeds in it, but it was the same as you can get basically anywhere, for more like $2.50.  Not worth $5, and I wouldn't get it again.

California Roll & Spicy Tuna Roll. $7.95.

Ojan asked for a California roll and a Spicy Tuna Roll, so I was happy to see them offered together as a lunch combo (which included the miso).  Each roll came with 6 pieces.

The California roll was a simple classic, with snow crab and avocado.  The crab meat tasted fresh enough, and there was a generous amount in each piece.  I had to avoid the avocado due to my (non-life threatening) allergy.

The Spicy Tuna I really didn't like, although, I'm starting to think I just don't really like red tuna very much.  It was mushy, and not at all spicy.  No one would criticize them for having too much mayo in their spicy tuna, in fact, I'm not sure it had any.  It did have cucumber.  Really, this seemed like a cucumber and tuna roll, not a spicy tuna.  Ojan commented, "I see why you didn't like this".  He likes tuna, and thought this wasn't tasty (not that it had gone bad or anything).

The rice in both the rolls was disappointing.  Slightly sticky, but not well seasoned, and mushy.

Wasabi and ginger were included, both in tiny portions, not nearly enough for the rolls in the box, and, no more was provided with the additional pieces I ordered.  Far too little of each, although both were just standard.  Soy sauce came in little containers, which didn't seal tightly and thus spilled all over my bag, but were nice to dunk into.  I never know what to do with just soy sauce packets in takeout sushi, since you want to dunk!  Ideally, you'd get an empty container, and a packet of soy sauce.  Or, a container that actually seals ...

At Naked Fish, California roll is normally $6 and the spicy tuna is normally $5, but the lunch combo was $7.95, a great price for two rolls.  I wouldn't get either again though.

Tamago Nigiri, Inari Nigiri. $3.00 each.

And finally, two of my favorite choices when I go to not-high-end sushi restaurants: tamago and inari.  At nicer places I'm all about the fish, but, for mid-range sushi, I do enjoy inari and tamago.  Even at a fancy sushi restaurant, I normally order tamago as my "dessert".

The inari was pretty standard, slightly sweetened bean curd.  Like the rolls, the rice was not very good.  They also seemed to add sesame seeds to everything.  I liked the sweet wrapper, but, the rice really ruined this.

The tamago was better than I expected, you could actually see some layering action.  It was slightly sweetened.  My favorite piece of the entire meal.

Neither of these came with any additional wasabi or ginger.

Each pair was $3, which seems about standard.

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Club Europe, BA486, LHR-BCN

Last week, you read about my flight from San Francisco to London, First Class, on British Airways.  That was just the first of the three flights necessary to get to my final destination: a beachfront villa in Mallorca!

Next, we had to get from London to Barcelona.  Within Europe, BA does not offer first class, so we had to fly business class, on this flight instead, known as "Club Europe".  It was a short flight, so it didn't matter much, but this was a serious downgrade from our international first class experience.

Mini Seat.

The seating layout was novel to me.  On one side on the plane there are still three seats, yet the middle seat cannot be booked.  On the other, there are two seats, with a mini seat-like thing between them.  Not big enough even for a child, but good for storing a few items during the flight (like, my purse, as pictured above).  Besides this, the seats are the same as the rest of the cabin.

Basic Seat.

The seats are quite basic.  No in-flight power, no entertainment screens.  The fascinating thing is how the cabins are divided between economy and business class.  They can actually re-configure it based on how many seats they sell in business.  The curtain separating the areas is moveable, and, on the side with the mini seat-thing, they can actually turn a crank to adjust the seats back to three normal seats.  So crazy.

The bathroom was standard, with regular paper towels (not cloth like in first class), and a faucet that is pushbutton on and off.

Meal service began with an offer of a hot towel, a good touch for business class.  Due the afternoon departure time, our meal service was "afternoon tea".

Soon after the hot towel, a cart rolled through.  “Would you like afternoon tea?”, I was asked.  “Yes”, I said.  A platter was placed in front of me, no menu provided, no description given.  This became a mystery dining experience.  I was also offered tea or coffee, and anything from the bar, but again, no idea what the options were as there was no menu or list provided.  I ordered a decaf coffee.  Emil later told me that they have a single champagne (that he finds vile), 2 reds (merlot and pinotage), and 2 whites, along with standard bar offerings.

Afternoon Tea.

On the tray was a silverware packet wrapped in plastic, that also contained salt and pepper, sugar, and a moist towelette. There was also an individual serving of whole milk and clotted cream.  No other sweeteners or add-ons were available for the coffee.

Speaking of the coffee.  I ordered decaf, which I’m quite sure was instant, as she had to go back and get it.  It was lukewarm, and tasted like cocoa.  Seriously, like cocoa.  So strange.  But it was served in a really cute cup, with photos of the London skyline on it.

I was dehydrated and had just been drinking over lunch in the Concorde room, so I went with sparkling water and didn't investigate any of the other beverage options.

The rest of my tray was a complete mystery.  3 tea sandwiches.  Since we had no menu, and no description, I honestly don’t know what they were.

The closest to me was on some kind of grainy bread, with cream cheese and bell peppers in assorted colors (yellow, green, red).  I tried this.  The bread was dry and stale tasting, the peppers slimy.  If I had a paper napkin, I probably would have spit this out.

After that first bite, I decided not to try the others.  I don’t like sandwiches anyway, and had just had lunch in the Concorde room.  The middle one seemed to be white bread, with perhaps ham, mustard, and mayo?  And arugula in between the layers of ham.  I’m not sure.

The furthest was wheat bread with chicken? curry with iceberg lettuce.

Tea sandwiches sound cute, but, these were quite dreadful.

Fruit Scone.

As I was examining my sandwiches, the attendant came back with a basket of “scones”.  She held it out asking if I’d like one.  There seemed to be two types of scones, so I asked if they were the same.  I was told one was plain and one was “fruit”.  At this point I realized I was supposed to just grab one, with my hand.  Strange.  I expected her to serve it to me, or for there to be tongs to use.  Um, ok.

The “scones” were warm, and more like a roll than what I’d consider a scone.  I’m still not sure what kind of “fruit” was in mine, but it did indeed have a few pieces of fruit.  There was also a fairly pleasant tang to it, something mildly orange-like.  On my tray was an individual clotted cream, and, as I was wondering about jam, a basket of jars of Wilkin & Sons jam was held out to me.  All jars were the same, strawberry.  I don’t really understand why the clotted cream was already on the tray, but the jam was passed afterwards?

Anyway, the scone was fine, but certainly nothing special, and it cooled down quite quickly.  The strawberry jam was very sweet, and didn’t have any noticeable fruit in it, but then again, I’m spoiled by my mother’s homemade jam, so no commercial jam rarely satisfies me.  Warm scones, cream, and jam aren't a bad thing, but these weren’t particularly interesting.

My water and coffee both ran out quickly, but luckily a refill was offered soon after.

Sweet Treat: Pistachio Madiera Cake.

The final item on my tray was a box labelled “sweet treat”, by Do & Co. It had absolutely no other information on it.  Once I opened the box, another label was visible: “Pistachio Madeira Cake”, it said.  This really, really did not look like a “treat”.  I couldn’t even tell which was the top and which was the bottom.

But for you dear readers, I persevered.  If I could handle the sandwiches, at least for a bite, I could try this.  And, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, right?  I’m known to try just about any dessert anyway, so, I bravely faced this thing.

It was as bad as it looked.  As I broke off a piece, I could tell it was going to be horrible.  It was strangely moist and spongy.  It was all one consistency.  It had no actual pistachio chunks inside, but the flavor did taste like pistachio.  I wish I could tell you more, but this was as much as I was willing to try.

So, overall, afternoon tea was … different.  I expected more.  Isn’t afternoon tea a serious thing for the British?  I didn’t expect to really want the sandwiches, since I don’t like sandwiches even when freshly made, but the dessert was a major disappointment.  The scone was at least something I was willing to eat.  If I had been relying on this for a meal, I would have been a bit upset, even if I had eaten all the components, as it really was just a pile of bread and sweets.

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Greenburger's

Greenburger's is a restaurant located in the Lower Haight, not a neighborhood I frequent often, so even though it has been there for a few years, it was new to me.

It caught my radar recently when I was telling a friend about "B-night", a weekly outing friends and I used to do where we would eat burgers.  It eventually evolved to include burritos as well, and, eventually, any restaurant or food that started with the letter 'b'.  (Little known fact: B-night is actually what started Julie's Dining Club, as I got very into the fun of picking the restaurant we'd visit each week.)

Anyway, I was thinking about burgers, and somehow wound up on Yelp, reading about burger places. (Does this happen to you?  Late at night, long after you should have gone to bed, you get lost on Yelp or Wikipedia?  Yeah, totally my weakness!)  I was intrigued by Greenburger's.  Yes, they offer burgers, but I would not call it a burger joint.  It is almost more of a soda fountain or diner, except, not at all decorated like either of those types of places.  And ... totally not a greasy spoon.  They serve classic comfort food, but focus on using locally owned, eco-friendly products.

Greenburger's is one of the most unique places I've visited in San Francisco, and I'm eager to return.

Update:
Sadly, after my first visit, I was very excited to return.  I had my eye on their Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes for brunch.  I went last weekend to get them, only to find out that they had stopped brunch service, and, were closing for good on May 30.  So, if you want to check them out, you have 2 days left :(

Vendors: all local and eco-friendly.

On each table is a card showcasing the vendors they work with.  It provides the basis for the restaurant: free-range, hormone-free, organic, sustainable, local, etc.  The most surprising item on here was the soap.  Yes, the soap.  The vendor they work with, Further Soap, "recycles our kitchen grease into biodegradable hand soap, and sends it back to us to use in the restaurant".  When I used the bathroom, indeed, the soap was labeled as being from Further Soap.

A lot of establishments in San Francisco do the trendy thing of mentioning their vendor's names, or throwing in organic labels, but Greenbuger's really does seem to stand by this.

It shows also in the way they handle their condiment station.  Since the menu does feature quite a few burgers and sandwiches, and things you'd dip in sauces, there is a condiment station, full of their own housemade sauces.  That part was nice, but not particularly novel.

The condiment station also includes all the standard burger toppings: lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, etc.  I've never seen this done before.  Most places include them on your platter.  Greenburger's realizes that this is a big source of waste, because people throw them out all the time.  (Side benefit: people like me, who love adding a slew of pickles, also win, as we can put on as many as we want, without having to scavenge from our pickle-hating dining companions).

As I mentioned, Greenburger's is almost like a diner or soda fountain, but not in decor.  It is a casual place, where you order at a register, and are given a number, which you take back to your seat with you.  Orders are delivered individually to you directly from the kitchen, from someone wearing chef's coat, rather than a dedicated food runner.  I thought that was a nice touch.

The staff were all very friendly, from the person taking my order, to the person who delivered my food.  The staff who brought out meals always remembered to point people to the condiments station, instructing them to take whatever they needed.  Along with the aforementioned condiments, the station also contained the silverware and self-serve ice water.

The feel of Greenburger's was certainly unique.  Like I mentioned, you order at a register, but, it almost felt like there was full table service, as the people bringing orders out would stop by other tables to check in on people, and someone noticed when I finished and cleared my plate away.  It was not self-bussing.  I really liked this mix of casual but attentive.

The menu, at first glance, is not unique at all.  It reads like a diner menu, full of American classics, all comfort foods, all crowd pleasers.  I am quite certain that there is something for absolutely anyone here.

As you would expect, there are burgers of course (made with sustainable beef or lamb) and sandwiches (pulled pork, turkey club, chicken cobb, fried fish).  And all your classic sides: wings, slaw, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, fries, sweet potato fries, onion strings, cornbread, salads.

The other section of the menu contains the (non-sandwich) entrees, crowd pleasers like fish and chips, meatball parmesan over spaghetti, and grilled chicken.  Daily specials include fried chicken or bacon wrapped meatloaf.  All classics, but they throw a curveball in with the incredibly interesting sounding Fried Thanksgiving Dinner, "panko crusted balls of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, served with gravy, seasonal veggies, and homemade cranberry sauce".  I don't like turkey, but something about this sounds pretty amazing.

Being a San Francisco establishment, vegetarians and vegans are well catered for, with housemade organic veggie burgers, vegan sloppy joes, and "chicken fried tempeh".  Even kids can eat here, with a menu showcasing hot dogs, grilled cheese, and mac and cheese.

And then ... desserts.  A separate area behind the registers houses the dessert preparation station, featuring Straus organic ice cream, made into decadent sundaes and milkshakes, or served atop housemade pies and bread pudding.  The milkshakes in particular looked legit, made to order, served in a classic milkshake cup, with the extra delivered in the metal mixing cup alongside.   The best part?  Sundaes or shakes are available in half sizes, so you can easily add one on to your meal.

I was there for brunch, where the menu is again full of the classics: breakfast sandwiches, eggs benedict, scrambles, eggs any style, pancakes, french toast.  The curveball here seemed to be the hash, buffalo chicken style: "pulled chicken, sautéed onions, bell peppers, and Yukon gold potatoes tossed in buffalo wing sauce, served with 2 eggs any style and bleu cheese dressing on the side".

The menu for Greenburger's seemed just as unique as the style of the establishment.  At first glance, simple, but I like how they focus the menu on the crowd pleasers, classic diner-style food, but then throw in an interesting dish on each menu, and, I assure you, the food is not diner-style at all.

Classic French Toast (child size).  $3.50.

I love breakfast foods like french toast and pancakes.  But, I don't actually enjoy eating an entire loaf of bread as a single order of french toast, or a stack of pancakes so high it topples over, for a simple breakfast.  Sure, there is a time and a place for that, but on a regular day, I prefer to eat a smaller portion, and then enjoy another meal soon after.  But when is the last time a restaurant served a reasonable portion?

The regular menu listed both the french toast and pancakes for $8.50, but I noticed that the kids menu had smaller orders available.  I wasn't trying to be cheap, I just wanted a smaller portion.  Most kids menus have very aggressive messaging: "UNDER 12 YEARS ONLY", or the like.  Greenburger's did not.  I'd also noticed that under the desserts section, it said they could all be made half-size for half-price.  I thought there was a chance that perhaps this was the sort of place that wanted to actually please its customers, rather than forcing them to be gluttons, waste food, or split meals.  I sheepishly asked if I was allowed to order off the kids menu.  The guy taking my order said, "of course!"  So refreshing and much appreciated.  I personally have a huge problem with food waste, so this is often a source of angst for me when I'm dining alone, since I can't just split with someone, and I'm forced to either waste food, or stuff myself.  I was so happy to be able to just order a child's size.

I was completely torn between the Classic French Toast or the Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes.  I asked the guy taking my order which he recommended, and he said he hadn't had either.  Since I'm more picky with french toast, I was about to order the pancakes, when he said, "I think you feel like the french toast".  So, I agreed.

The regular menu said the french toast and pancakes were both served with seasonal fruit and organic maple syrup, but the children's menu did not, and, given the price, I assumed I was getting a very basic offering.  I was thus delighted when my order arrived, and wasn't just a lone slice of french toast.  It looked great.

The french toast lived up to its name of "classic".  To me, classic mostly means that it will be dunked in an egg batter, slightly spiced with cinnamon, topped with powdered sugar, and served with little else.  There can be a fair amount of variance even in classic french toast, based on the type of bread used. Greenburger's used thick cut brioche, a much better choice than the white sandwich bread version from Soma Inn Cafe or the wheat sandwich bread version from Sausalito Cafe, and they did a better job with the brioche than Axis Cafe.  However, the french toast itself was highly unremarkable.  It wasn't too eggy, and I think it had a slight cinnamon spicing, but it was hard to tell given the other toppings.  It wasn't overcooked, or burnt, or anything, fairly moist.  It was clearly made to order, delivered hot and fresh.  But again, very standard, unremarkable.

In terms of bread choice, the most memorable I've ever had is from Lou's Cafe, in my hometown in NH, that makes theirs from ... glazed crullers (yes, the donuts). A serving of their french toast is literally, three full size glazed crullers, dipped into french toast batter, grilled, topped with fruit and whipped cream, served with syrup, and a side of bacon fat fried homefries. Oh my.

But back to Greenburger's version.  It looked beautiful, due to the toppings.  Toppings are always a crucial aspect of french toast.  A truly classic version would just be sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with syrup, which this was, but it was also garnished with fresh blackberries, and covered in a berry sauce.  I always like powdered sugar on french toast, so that was a good touch.  The blackberries were plump, juicy, and tart.  I don't love blackberries (I can't stand the seeds), but these were clearly a quality product.

The description said it was served with seasonal fruit, which the blackberries certainly were.  It didn't say anything about the sauce, but honestly, it looked great, so I eagerly dug in.  Unfortunately, the sauce totally ruined it for me.  It was very, very sweet, and I just didn't care for the flavor.  French toast slathered in berry sauce can totally be delicious, but in this case, it really was the downfall.

Served on the side was a little pot of maple syrup, the real stuff, organic even.  Unfortunately, since the french toast was absolutely covered in the berry sauce, it was impossible to use much of the maple syrup, as the berry sauce was cloyingly sweet on its own.  I scraped off as much as I could, and dunked the unspoiled edge pieces in the maple syrup and enjoyed them, but the berry sauce just killed this dish for me.  I was very glad I didn't get the bigger portion.

The best french toast I've had to date is the brioche french toast bread pudding with stewed apples and quince, crème fraîche whipped cream, and candied pecans at Baker & Banker, although, calling that "french toast" isn't quite fair, as it really is french toast + bread pudding + pie, all in one.  And really, more of a dessert than a breakfast or brunch item.

While I was dining, I saw a child next to me get the buckwheat blueberry pancake.  A huge pancake, loaded with blueberries, garnished with more blueberries.  No blackberries nor berry sauce in sight.  I was highly regretful of my decision to get the french toast.

But to be fair, this was classic french toast, executed well, and if you liked the berry sauce, I'm sure it was good.

The $3.50 price tag was insanely good, for a full piece of french toast, plus fresh (probably local and organic) berries, plus real organic maple syrup?  Some places will charge you $2 just for the syrup.

I'll be returning, but I will most certainly go for the pancakes next time.  Or, I'll go for lunch, since the fish and chips is also calling out me, as are pretty much all of the side dishes!

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CX0548, Business Class, HKG-HND

As you know, I recently took a business trip to Tokyo.  Some parts didn't go exactly as expected, thus, I wound up on a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong, rather than a direct flight to Tokyo on JAL.  It added some frustration, and a lot of hours, to my flight, but, I got to experience Cathay finallyThe aircraft used for my next segment, Hong Kong to Tokyo, was basically the same as the one on my San Francisco to Hong Kong segment, so I'll skip all the basic details here.  The only major difference was that it was now a daytime (morning) flight rather than overnight, so I didn't turn it into a bed for sleep.

Back view of my seat.

Same seat, with large tv screen.  The only difference this time is that the flower vase actually had a flower in it.  It was strangely empty on the previous flight.

Side View.

Same controls, power outlets, usb chargers, cubby for the headphones, side table that then turned into dining table.

Breakfast Menu.

Meal service was another breakfast, although with slightly different options this time.  The service was very slow.  Business class was not full, and I think due to the low load, they did not do dual service as they did on my previous flight, so it took a while for the single attendant to serve everyone.

The breakfast menu again began with a slew of light starters: fruit, yogurt, cereals, along with juices.

Followed by a choice of main courses:

• Omelette with pan-fried Lincolnshire sausage, streaky bacon, pan-fried bubble & squeak, tomato and button mushroom
• Dim Sum with chili sauce: Pork sui mai with scallop, shrimp dumpling, pork and chive dumpling, mini chicken glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaf
• Japanese beef curry with steamed rice, peas and carrot

All were served with a bread basket of assorted breakfast breads, served with preserves, honey and butter.

Non-alcoholic Beverage Menu.

Non-alcoholic choices were exactly the same as on my previous flight:

• Juices: orange, apple, tomato
• Soft Drinks: Coke Zero, Coke, Coke Light, Sprite, Perrier water, tonic water, soda water and ginger ale
• Coffees: freshly brewed coffee, espresso, cappuccino and caffè latte (regular or decaffeinated)
• Teas: Hong Kong style milk tea, Ceylon, Japanese, jasmine, oolong, Organic selection: camomile, earl grey and peppermint
• Hot Chocolate

Breakfast Starter #1: Fresh Seasonal Fruit.

The first offering was a fresh fruit platter.  I have never been able to have a fruit platter on a flight before, as they always contain melon, and I'm allergic to melon.  I was excited to finally be able to have one.

I was really impressed with the fruit selection.  Kiwi, papaya, blueberries, and dragon fruit?  A major step up from the usual melons, grapes, and pineapples.

The fruit was all quite decent, fresh tasting, served cold.  The papaya was my favorite.  I would have appreciated more than just 3 blueberries.

This was shocking good for airplane fruit, and I'd get it again.

Breakfast Starter #2: Banana muffin with butter.

Next came the breakfast bread basket.  This time I had the choice of a banana muffin, a croissant, or a roll.  Not really that much more exciting than the last flight, but this time the breads were actually served warm.  I still think they probably were supposed to be on the previous flight?

I appreciated the warm muffin, and it had a nice strong banana flavor, and it was moist, but ... I just didn't like it very much.  The croissants looked better in this basket than the previous one.

Breakfast Starter #3: Muesli with milk.

Next up was a selection of yogurts and cereals.

The cereal selection again contained Special K, but this time there was also corn flakes, and muesli replaced the granola.

On the previous flight, I opted for the granola, but with yogurt on the side, to make it into a parfait.  It didn't work well, since the yogurt was way too sweet.  This time, the yogurt choices were strawberry, apricot, or blueberry, so I decided to just opt for milk, assuming the yogurt would be equally too sweet.

The milk was absolutely delicious.  It tasted like cream, honestly.   I feel silly raving about milk, but wow, this was good milk.  When the attendant poured it into my cereal I was a bit annoyed at first because she added so much more milk than cereal, and my granola was absolutely swimming in it, but in the end, I loved the milk so much that I drank it all up, and it was even better once a little bit of the sweetness from the granola infused it.  Yum!

The muesli was oat based, fairly generic, but loaded up with all sorts of stuff.  There were several types of dried fruit, bits of apricot, raisins, and dates, all of which added a bit of chew and pleasant sweetness.  There were also assorted nuts, almonds, cashews, and hazelnuts.  The hazelnuts were a bit too bitter, but I was intrigued by the fact that they floated.  Did you know hazelnuts float?

This was fine, but I'm not much of a cereal person in general.  That milk though ... so good, that I'd get this again.

Breakfast Main: Dim sum with chili sauce.

And for my main course, I went for the dim sum.  On my previous flight, the dim sum had looked so much better than my selection, and, I was flying out of Hong Kong, so it seemed like the fitting choice.  Plus, well, I don't like omelets or beef curry anyway.

The description of my dim sum platter read: "pork sui mai with scallop, shrimp dumpling, pork and chive dumpling, mini chicken glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaf".

I tried them in the order by which they interested me.

I was most excited for the sui mai with scallop, since I love scallops.  But alas, there was no scallop, it had shrimp instead.

Next I moved on to the shrimp dumpling, my second choice.  It was slimy.  The wrapper was flimsy.  And, as I cut into it, water came pouring out.  It was not very good.

Then I tried the final dumpling, pork and chive.  The wrapper on this one was actually good, a bit chewy, but the filling was way too porky for me.  I don't like pork.

And finally, the lotus leaf.  I do like glutinous rice, but I dislike chicken.  Luckily for me, there was more than just chicken inside, I also found sausage, mushroom, and other random unidentifiable bits.

I didn't really like any of this, and I was glad I'd had the fruit and cereal, along with a few treats from the lounge during my stopover.  It sorta makes sense that dim sum can't be good on an airplane, but I was really disappointed by this, since I know Cathay always serves a dim sum choice, I assumed they'd figured out some way to make it decent.

My travel companion selected the omelette, and he enjoyed it, in particular, the full sausage that came with it.

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